13th July

Eli emailed to say Kita-Ku is an older part of Tokyo, and that Shimo is Japanese for “when you wish that a bush would grow thicker”.

I don’t think I’ll comment on that.

Found out that Filmfour launches for free on satellite on the day I leave for Japan. And the first film they are showing? Lost In Translation. It’s a sign.


I’ve been thinking about timings:

10 days notice is as tight as Princess Leia’s Return Of The Jedi brasier.

And now it’s 9 days.

Phoned SHANE as this date seemed at odds with the visa procedure they had set out in their literature.

I am awaiting my Certificate of Eligibility which I then need to take to the Japanese Embassy before I can get my visa.

However, this whole process could take 5 working days, it’s Friday tomorrow and I fly next Sunday. This didn’t add up.

Bloke at SHANE told me that I am flying on 23rd no matter what, and so I might have to go in on a totally different visa and change once I’m there.

Not very happy about this ; it’s all a bit wishy-washy. I always like to know what’s going on. I hope this bureaucratic vagueness is not a sign of things to come.

I didn’t ask about iris scans and deep cavity searches.